The war between Russia and Ukraine: 1,730 warriors have now capitulated from Azovstal, the Kremlin claims; blackout harming Russian military, says Britain – live | Ukraine
Russia claims that a total of 1,730 warriors have now capitulated from Azovstal
Russia’s Defense Ministry, according to their morning briefing on Telegram, has said that 1,730 fighters have capitulated from Azovstal since Monday. That includes another 771 who have surrendered, they say, in the last 24 hours. 80 were injured. The Russian Ministry of Defense says that “those in need of inpatient care receive help from medical institutions” in Novoazovsk and Donetsk.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has stated that it has now registered “hundreds” of Ukrainian prisoners of war who left Azovstal’s steelworks this week.
The Swiss Foreign Ministry has announced that it will reopen its embassy in Kyiv. Reuters reports that five employees, including the ambassador, will return to the Ukrainian capital in the next few days.
The decision to reopen the Swiss embassy after it was temporarily closed two and a half months ago was based on an in-depth analysis of the security situation, the ministry said.
Kursk regional governor Roman Starovoy has written again to Telegram with further details about what he claims was an attack on the village of Tyotkino in Russia, which is located right on the border with Ukraine. His message says he is visiting the area:
According to updated information, the truck driver from the Voronezh region died. I express my condolences to the family. Another driver from the Voronezh region was injured. He was sent for treatment to Kursk Regional Hospital, with a moderate wound. We will give him all the help he needs.
Communicated with residents. Affected residential buildings will be repaired immediately. Two families with children live in the most ruined house. They will be temporarily transferred to Kursk.
The task for today is to close windows and roofs on the affected houses and begin repairs. The gas is already being restored. Buildings in the distillery and sugar factory’s territories were also damaged.
The message states that his visit continues. Earlier, he posted some pictures to Telegram that were allegedly from the scene of the alleged attack.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has called for an urgent ceasefire in Ukraine so that serious negotiations can begin to end the war that began with Russia’s latest invasion almost three months ago.
“A ceasefire must be reached as soon as possible,” Reuters reports as Draghi told the upper house of Senate in Rome, opening a debate on Italy’s role in supporting Ukraine, creating growing tensions in the prime minister’s ruling majority.
Draghi said it was important to maintain pressure on Russia through economic sanctions “because we have to bring Moscow to the negotiating table.”
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said that his nation would defend Sweden and Finland if they were attacked even before they joined NATO.
“I see Sweden’s and Finland’s accession to NATO as an important signal for strengthening security in Europe,” Reuters said during a conference.
“I want to make it clear that in the event of an attack on Sweden or Finland during their accession, Poland will help them.”
Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Marin gave an interview to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, and the main lines seem to be that she excludes that NATO locates a permanent base or nuclear weapon on Finnish soil. She says (in translation):
This is not a current debate, the issue is not part of the debate. These are national decisions. No one will impose nuclear weapons or permanent bases on us if we do not want them. This issue is not on the agenda. It does not even seem to me that there is interest in deploying nuclear weapons or opening NATO bases in Finland.
She said that Finland was well placed to defend itself, even without NATO’s assistance:
We have good defensive capabilities, we already spend more than 2% of our GDP on defense, and for decades we have invested heavily in our security, precisely because of the large and aggressive neighbor we have at our borders.
She had strong words about Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine, to the newspaper:
The decision to apply for NATO membership is an act of peace, not an act of war. We must ensure that there is never a war on Finnish soil and we will always try to solve problems through diplomacy.
Unfortunately, not all countries think so.
Russia does not believe that. It has attacked Ukraine by killing civilians, children, mothers, old people, acting in an unacceptable manner. That is why we must support Ukraine and ensure that it wins the war by providing arms, economic and humanitarian aid, by launching new sanctions against Russia, which will not end until it is stopped.
Here is the claim from International Committee of the Red Cross of prisoners of war who surrendered from Azovstal:
On Tuesday, May 17, the ICRC began registering combatants leaving the Azovstal facility, including the wounded, at the request of the parties. The operation continued on Wednesday and was still ongoing on Thursday. The ICRC does not transport prisoners of war to the places where they are held.
The registration process that the ICRC facilitated means that the individual fills in a form with personal information such as name, date of birth and next of kin. This information enables the ICRC to track down those who have been captured and help them stay in touch with their families.
In accordance with the mandate given by the states to the ICRC during the 1949 Geneva Conventions, the ICRC must have immediate access to all prisoners of war in all places where they are held. The ICRC must be allowed to interview prisoners of war without witnesses, and the duration and frequency of these visits should not be unnecessarily limited.
Russia claims that a total of 1,730 warriors have now capitulated from Azovstal
Russia’s Defense Ministry, according to their morning briefing on Telegram, has said that 1,730 fighters have capitulated from Azovstal since Monday. That includes another 771 who have surrendered, they say, in the last 24 hours. 80 were injured. The Russian Ministry of Defense says that “those in need of inpatient care receive help from medical institutions” in Novoazovsk and Donetsk.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has stated that it has now registered “hundreds” of Ukrainian prisoners of war who left Azovstal’s steelworks this week.
Here are some of the latest pictures we have sent over the news broadcasts from Ukraine.
It quotes the Russian news agency Tass Denis Pushilinwho is the head of the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, who said that more than half of the Ukrainian soldiers who were inside the Mariupol Azovstal steelworks have now left the factory.
The reports are unclear as to the exact number and have not been independently verified. There has been confusion over exactly how many fighter jets were besieged at the facility.
Yesterday, Russia claimed that 959 Ukrainian service personnel had capitulated, 51 of whom were taken to hospital. The rest had been sent to a former prison colony in the town of Olenivka in a Russian-controlled area of the Donetsk region.
Serhiy Haidai, Ukraine’s governor of Luhansk, has published his latest assessment of overnight events in Ukraine. He told his Telegram followers:
On May 18, the Russians used aircraft to destroy civilian objects in the areas of the settlements of Loskutivka, Katerynivka and Orikhove. They carried out attacks in the Ustynivka and Zolotoho-4 areas, but failed. Settlements have many destructions. Damage to houses was also registered in Vrubivka, Nyrkovo and Komyshuvas.
As previously reported, in Lysychansk yesterday afternoon, the Russians shut down a powerful transformer station. The area was left without light.
Sixteen enemy attacks were repulsed in Luhansk and Donetsk last night, destroying eight tanks, seventeen units of armored combat vehicles, four special armored vehicles and six conventional enemy vehicles. Air defense units shot down an enemy Su-34 fighter jet.
The claims have not been independently verified.